SF 271 
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copyi AMERICAN CHEESE 



CHEESE-MAKING. 




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PHIIiADELPHIA: 

J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY. 

18S9. 



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AMERICAN CHEESE 



CHEESE-MAKING. 



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PHIIiADELPHIA: 

J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY. 

1889. 



Copyright, 1889, by J. B. Lippincott Company. 



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AMERICAN CHEESE AND CHEESE-MAKING. 



The art of cheese-making in America has under- 
gone a radical change. Previous to the introduction 
of the factory system American cheese was pungent 
in flavour and decomposed rapidly. Consequently 
American cheese was not popular in foreign markets, 
and met with a very restricted sale. Since the factory 
system has been brought to a high condition of ex- 
cellence, American cheese competes favourably, in 
even the English market, with the home-made Ched- 
dar, Cheshire, and other popular kinds. The system 
practised in American factories is an improved Ched- 
dar process, and prominent English experts have at 
times referred to the American system as being 
worthy of imitation in English dairies. Under the 
prevailing system the manufacture of cheese in 
America (the United Sates and Canada) increased 
more than lOO per cent, as the following figures will 
show: 

United States. Canada. 
Product of Cheese — 

In i860 103,663,927 lb. none. 

" 1870 162,947,382 " 6,000,000 lb. 

" 1880 199,022,984" 15,000,000" 

Number of Factories — 

In 1851 I none. 

" i860 37 " 

" 1866 501 35 

" 1870 946 75 

" 1880 2532 105 



A AMERICAN CHEESE AND CHEESE-MAKING. 

United States. Canada. 
Exports of Cheese — 

1111830 10,000 lb. none. 

" 1850 15,000,000 " " 

" i860 23,159,391 " ($6oo,ooo's worth 

imported from U. S.) 

" 1870 49,755,8421b. 12,000,000 lb. 

" 1880 129,584,981 " 40,000,000 " 

Since 1880 up to 1888 the manufacture and export 
of cheese from the United States has fallen off, but 
that from Canada has increased. The decrease in ex- 
ports from the United States has been due to the too 
prevalent adulteration of cheese with oleo-margarine 
and lard oils, through which the quality has fallen off 
and an unfavourable reputation has been acquired, 
while Canadian cheese has been kept pure. In 1879 
Canadian cheese carried off the Sweepstakes prize at 
the International Exhibition held in New York against 
the competition of both United States and English 
cheese. Since 1880 Canadian cheese of the best 
autumn makes has sold in England for more than the 
average English Cheddar. 

The American system of cheese-making has been 
reduced by improved mechanism and association in 
the form of the factory method to the most econom- 
ical point. This method of manufacture was a growth 
by necessity rather than a discovery. A large dairy 
was divided by the death of the owner, who left three 
sons. The sons united and manufactured their milk 
at the old dairy, and in time neighbours joined, and 
the first factory was established in 185 1 under the 
management of the oldest of the three brothers. In 
course of time the business increased and became re- 
duced to a most economical basis, while by the 



AMERICAN CHEESE AND CHEESE-MAKING. 



5 



employment of skilful operatives the quality of the 
product was gradually raised. The factories were 
gradually enlarged until the milk of 1200 cows could 
be worked up in the largest, and an average factory 
received the milk of about 400 cows. One Canadian 
factory makes 216,000 lb. of cheese yearly from the 
milk of 1300 cows. 

The curing occupies about three months, the tem- 
perature of the curing-room being kept at 65° F. 
Gang presses are used, in which a large number of 
cheeses laid on their sides are pressed at once by 
turning one screw. A common test by which the 
ripeness of the curd for pressure is determined is by 
touching it with a hot iron, and when long strings are 
drawn from the curd by the iron, the curd is ripe. 

Milk is brought to the factory twice daily, and is 
weighed and run into the vat from the delivery 
window. The milk is either bought by the factory, or 
is worked up at a stated charge, or the factory is man- 
aged on the co-operative plan in which the net pro- 
ceeds are divided periodically. Under this factory 
system the quality of the cheese is uniform and as 
high as is secured in any well-managed private dairy. 
About one-fifth of the cheese produced in America is 
made in private dairies in which the same system pre- 
vails. 

There are several other kinds of cheese made in 
both factories and private dairies, as Edam (the round 
Dutch cheese), a small cylindrical cheese similar to 
the English Wiltshire, weighing 10 to 14 lb.; a flat 
cheese called English dairy cheese, similar to the 
double Gloucester cheese and coloured as highly ; a 



6 AMERICAN CHEESE AND CHEESE-MAKING. 

few Stilton cheese ; cream cheeses for immediate use ; 
and very good imitations of the European Limburger, 
Schweizer, Neufchatel, Brie, Gouda, Camembert; and 
some other fancy makes to supply the French, 
German, and other immigrant population. 

The cows used in the cheese dairies in the United 
States and Canada are mostly ' grade' shorthorns, or 
native cows improved by crosses of shorthorn, Devon, 
Ayrshire, and Dutch breeds. Jersey and Guernsey 
cows, and the best of the higher bred animals, are 
used for the highest class of cheese of the fancy kinds. 
The profitable exploitation of the dairy in America 
has raised the value of lands suitable for grazing cows 
to an average value of nearly ^lOO (£20) per acre for 
the fee simple, which is twice as much as that of grain 
farms. The cheese-dairy business prevails mostly in 
the states of New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Iowa, 
and Wisconsin, and in the province of Ontario, Can- 
ada. The cows are chiefly fed upon pasturage aided 
in the latter part of the summer by soiling crops, 
of which maize is almost universally chiefly depended 
upon. The cheese-making season begins in April 
and continues until November. See X. A. Willard's 
Practical Dairy Husbajidry (1875), L. B. Arnold's 
American Dairying {\%yy), and Henry Stewart's Amer- 
ican Dairyman's Mamial. 

Cheese-press. — The most common form is the 
lever press. A powerful steel coil or spring is some- 
times substituted for the lever. In large factories the 
gang press is employed to press a large number of 
cheeses at one time by means of a powerful horizontal 
screw. The old method was by placing a heavy stone 



AMERICAN CHEESE AND CHEESE-MAKING. •j 

(hence the name stoning cheese) on the lid of the 
chesset, or by hanging it by a ring fixed to its upper 
side from the end of a wooden beam which acted as 
a lever and passed over the lid of the cheese-press 
vat. 



000 89^ 



